Illusions
by OutrageousIngeniousBrilliance
Summary: Pasts always comes to haunt you, especially if you are a Final Fantasy character.  The stories of what happened if Sora finds out the Final Fantasy characters are not from Radiant Gardens.  Extra note- I forgot Vivi and Setzer  sorry!


_So I haven't played Final Fantasy VII, VII, or X-2. I've played most of FFX. I got all my information from the Final Fantasy Wikia._

Illusions

-Your past always comes to haunt you-

Sora sat in the Usual Spot with Riku, Hayner, Pence, and Olette. Sora wanted to visit the Twilight Town gang and Riku decided to come along. Sora was telling stories of his travels. He had been telling them all day about different worlds. The Twilight Town gang liked Radiant Gardens the best. They wanted to meet these people that sounded so interesting and truly, the people were very interesting. Hayner wanted to meet this Cloud person, sounded mysterious and strong. Olette wanted to meet Tifa, since she was such a strong woman. Pence wanted to meet Leon, because Leon was trying to rebuild Radiant Gardens. Sora said that the gang couldn't because; they should stay on their home worlds. It was decided, later on in the day, that they should go get some ice cream.

"Seifer!" Hayner yelled as Seifer, Fuu, and Rai came into view. Seifer smirked.

"Well, well, what do we have here?"

"Seifer, we don't have time for this." Hayner yelled, remembering that Sora and Riku had to leave soon.

"Really? All I need is a minute." Seifer's laugh has always been creepy to the Twilight Town gang and it still was.

"What!" Hayner yelled furiously. "Now I wish I really did have a Gunblade." Hayner mumbled. Seifer stiffened with the mention of a Gunblade.

"W-What's a Gunblade?" Seifer sounded weird.

"This guy with a scar on his forehead has one. Could beat you to a pulp! Sora knows him." Hayner explained in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Hmm. Interesting." Seifer laughed, walking off. Fuu and Rai were close behind.

"Never have seen Seifer just walk off." Olette said. They shrugged it off, returning their thoughts to ice cream. They returned to the Usual Spot to see off Sora and Riku.

"Sorry we can't stay longer." Sora apologized. Riku nodded in agreement.

"Nah, it's okay. It's been fun." Olette assured them.

"Hey! Look, it's a letter." Pence was pointing to something on the couch. "Squall? Who is Squall?"

"I don't know." Sora answered. Who was he?

"We should take it to the Moogles. They deal with letters. Right?" Riku asked Sora.

"From what I've heard." Sora answered.

On the gummi ship, Riku was wondering who the letter was for. Sora said he thinks he has heard the name once, but wasn't sure. They were heading towards Radiant Gardens. Sora was bouncing off the walls with excitement, Riku was trying to keep Sora from crashing the ship. Sora was a good driver, it was just Riku was a lot better. Riku doesn't like Hollow Bastion that much, but Radiant Gardens was different. It was happier and looked a lot better thanks to the Restoration Committee.

"See, we aren't even in the castle." Sora said to Riku as they walked towards the castle.

"I like the outside of the castle." That meant Riku really liked it. Riku didn't say he liked stuff often. Mostly he was indifferent. They stopped when they heard crying. Sora ran forward trying to see who it was. To their surprise, it was Tifa. She was alone, but looking at a photograph. She wasn't sobbing, which was good. Tifa noticed them and ran off towards the castle. Sora went to run after her, but Riku stopped him.

"Let her cry." Advice, Riku almost always has good advice. They continued until they saw the three fairy things talking about something.

"Hey!" Sora said. The fairies looked at them.

"Oh, hey!" Rikku shouted.

"What are you doing here?" Sora asked. He thought they went somewhere to do something. He couldn't really remember.

"We have to find 'him'." Yuna said. Rikku and Paine looked at each other.

"Yunie, what if can't?" Rikku asked.

"We have to find 'him'!" Yuna was very determined.

"Maybe we can help." Sora offered. They saw Cloud, Leon, Yuffie, Cid, Tifa, and Aerith come towards them.

"Hey, can you help us?" Yuna and Rikku asked them. They nodded.

"Maybe…" Paine said.

"Well, who's he?" Riku asked. They were asking that a lot lately.

"'Him'." Yuna said as if it was obvious.

"They don't know who 'he' means." Paine said.

"Blonde…blue eyes…blitzball maniac." She whispered the last part so Yuna didn't hear.

"Sounds like Tidus." Sora said. Tidus was a blitzball maniac, along with Wakka.

"Tidus!" Yuna's voice was desperate.

"Yeah, he lives on the islands with us." Riku said. Yuna and Rikku got very excited.

"That's him. We lost him a few years back when our world went into darkness." Paine explained, the only one of the three that was calm.

"Where are you from? We thought you were from Radiant Gardens?" Sora asked quickly. Leon nodded in agreement.

"This wonderful world called Spira. It's beautiful and Yuna saved it!" Rikku said excitedly.

"Not just me, the guardians helped." Yuna said.

"Wow! Though, Tidus is a year younger than me. He is from Destiny Islands. He must have been young and so must of you." Riku said.

"Oh, we haven't aged since darkness took over our planet. We just haven't." Yuna said.

"Backward Amnesia." Leon said.

"What's that?" Sora asked. The rest of them looked confused.

"If you go to another world, there are two options. Go to the world as a younger version and grow up, or don't age. If you go the younger route, you lose your memories of your home planet, maybe to never resurface. Also if you choose this route, everyone on the world will remember you, like a fictious past." Leon explained.

"I didn't know that." Tifa said.

"Sometimes you don't get to choose, like we did." Leon said.

"Like we did?" Sora asked, puzzled.

"I'm not from Radiant Gardens." Leon said.

"Where are you from?" Sora was completely lost.

"Another world." Leon says curtly.

"We aren't either." Yuffie says.

"Where are you from?" Riku asks.

" The planet." Aerith answers.

"That's an original name." Riku commented sarcastically.

"It doesn't matter. It was ours." Tifa said.

"What happened?" Sora's voice went soft.

"Darkness." Aerith, Leon, and Paine said at the same time. Each voice was low and soft. Sora frowned.

"Darkness ruins many lives." Sora said thoughtfully. Riku looked a little pained, but nodded his head.

"That's why we are trying to make new lives, since we can't go back to our old ones." Leon said.

"What were your worlds like?" Riku asked.

"Why does it matter?" Cloud answered.

"You should never forget where you came from." Sora said.

"Well, it's a long story." Yuna said. "A long time ago, there was darkness in the form of a creature named Sin. Sin needed to be destroyed and could only be destroyed by a summoner. I am a summoner, so my guardians and I went out to defeat Sin. My guardians were originally Lulu, Kimahri (a Ronso. A blue Lion if you wish.), and Wakka."

"Wakka is with us, too." Riku said. Yuna smiled in joy.

"I'm happy." Yuna continued. "One day, Tidus, came to us. He was seventeen and claimed to come from Zanarkand, which had been destroyed a thousand years prior. I believed him. During my trip we met Auron who was wise and had helped defeat sin ten years before with my father and Tidus' father, a man trapped in Spira and wished to go back to Zanarkand."

"I know Auron. He was at Olympus Coliseum." Sora said.

"That is good as well!" Yuna smiled again. "Around that time we found Rikku. She is an Al Bhed, as I am half Al Bhed. She is my cousin. Then we were in this mix up and I was to wed, but the others wouldn't let me. I was thankful that I didn't. I was suppose to die… Summoners defeated Sin, but died. Tidus helped me not die, but he was an illusion and went away…" Yuna started to cry.

"Eternal Calm came after Sin was defeated for good. We thought we could get Tidus back, so we met Paine and searched. Ultimately we failed. Darkness came soon after and we were here the next thing we knew. Also, we were small fairies with almost no powers." Rikku finished the story for Yuna. Paine tried to comfort Yuna.

"An illusion?" Sora asked.

"Yes, your Tidus is probably an illusion, too." Rikku said. "But, we don't care. We are going to Destiny Islands." The three fairies left, Yuna was sobbing and Rikku and Paine decided how to get to Destiny Islands.

"Are your stories like that?" Riku asked. Leon and Tifa nodded.

"I should tell ours." Tifa said. Cloud walked away.

"Cloud! Where are you going?" Tifa asked, angered.

"Not Dilly Dallying." Cloud answered. Tifa looked hurt.

"Why is he like that?" Riku asked.

"He was part of a group called SOLDIER. They experimented on him and a friend of his, from what we have gathered. He misses that friend." Aerith answered.

"It's all Sephiroth's fault!" Yuffie accused. "He made Cloud cold and killed Aerith!"

"What!" Leon exclaimed.

"I am just an illusion. I died a while back." Aerith explained.

"Darkness came to our planet and claimed a lot of our friends lives." Tifa continued. "Vincent, Red XIII, Barret, Cait Sith, D-Denzel, Marlene…" Tifa started to cry.

"Denzel and Marlene were adopted by Tifa and Cloud. Their death was hard on them both, even if Cloud doesn't show it."

"I'm sorry" Sora didn't like his friends sad. He wanted them to be happy, but to do that they would have to move on. Time passed as no one said anything.

"Is there a way to cure backward amnesia?" Riku asked Leon.

"They have to touch the heart of the planet." Leon said. Cloud ran up to the group of people.

"Sephiroth has gone to Twilight Town." Cloud said.

"We'll go with you." Sora didn't even ask Cloud to stay. He knew Cloud would find a way to Twilight Town if Sora went alone. Leon said he would come as well. Leon and Cloud found out that Sora like to do flips in the gummi ship…a lot. Cloud was almost sick, but they said nothing to the keyblade master. At Twilight Town they caught up with Hayner, Pence, and Olette.

"Are you Cloud and Leon?" Hayner asked excitedly. Cloud and Leon nodded.

"Oh my! My name is Olette, this is Hayner, and this is Pence." Olette gestured to the others.

"Fans of yours." Riku added to Olette's introduction. Leon laughed.

"We're looking for this guy with silver hair, a wing, and a long sword." Sora said. The Twilight Gang had not seen him, but suggested they go to the mansion. At the mansion, they went inside. There was a stone in the back of the first floor. Leon went over to it.

"This is the heart of the planet." Leon said. No one questioned him on it. They went back to the middle of the room. They then heard the doors open. Seifer stood their looking extremely pissed off. Leon looked like he saw a ghost.

"Squall Leonhart!" Seifer almost yelled. Leon stepped back into an attacking stance.

"Seifer!" Leon said with anger in his voice.

"What the hell are you doing alive?" Seifer asked, yelling.

"I could ask you the same question." Leon answered. "Where is she?" Seifer looked away.

"Where is she?" Seifer looked almost hurt, but was still not making eye contact with Squall.

"WHERE IS SHE?" Squall yelled at Seifer.

"She's dead!" He yelled at Squall. Squall looked devestated, like he got the worst news of his life. Then, Squall got angry.

"I told you to protect her!" Squall yelled at Seifer, again. "You are the only person who cares about her as much as I do! That's why I sent her with you!" Seifer had made his way to the stone in the back and touched it. In a flash of light and a blink of an eye, he was older. His outfit was gone, but replace with something very similar. He looked Squall's age. Seifer and Squall summoned their gunblades.

"Do you need another scar to match the one I gave you?" Squall was angry and this taunting really wasn't him.

"We heard you died." Seifer said. "She wouldn't hear of it. She kept saying you were alive. She told us to stop lying. We went by a world and your ship seemed destroyed. I guess that was enough evidence for her. She…she killed herself, with a gun. She made me watch. She chose you. She said that she didn't want to be in a universe without you." Seifer was solemn. Squall looked shocked.

"We did crash on a world of islands. Destiny Islands is the name." Squall said as Sora and Riku were shocked that Leon was on their planet. "Selphie was badly injured. We didn't know what to do. She was going to die, so we did the whole backward amnesia on her. She is better. We can never cure her of the amnesia, though. If we do she will die. Zell and I didn't make it much farther. Our ship gave out again when we hit Traverse Town. Zell…didn't make it." I've been with other refugees from a different world ever since. We've been rebuilding a home." Seifer sighed.

"We crashed here very early on. After…well… Fujin, Raijin, and I, well now, Fuu and Rai and I are here. I remembered about a year back. Fuu and Rai remembered about a month ago." Seifer said. Leon nodded.

"I wrote a letter for you. To tell you what happened. I gave it to Sora to give to you. I guess he didn't." Sora looked guilty.

"I didn't know your name was Squall, Leon." Sora laughed nervously. "Sorry."

"Leon?" Seifer asked.

"Yeah?" Squall asked back. Seifer just shook his head.

"Sephiroth!" Cloud yelled at a descending cloud of darkness.

"Cloud Strife…do you want another present?" Sephiroth emerged.

"What is it with time?" Cloud gritted out.

"It's not just despair this time. You already have despair, with the orphan's right?"

"Leave Denzel and Marlene out of this."

"Or the flower girl?"

"Leave Aerith out of this, too!" Cloud was getting really angry.

"Or Zack?" Cloud lost it.

"Don't _mention _him!"

"Really?" Sephiroth laughed as his wing appeared, taking him away. Cloud was almost visibly steaming.

"Who's Zack?" Leon asked. Cloud shook his head. After an hour of Leon and Seifer talking, and Fuu and Rai returning to their formal selves, the gummi ship was ready to go back to Radiant Gardens.

"Squall, I'm coming with you." Seifer said. Squall looked at Sora, who nodded.

"Only if Fuu and Rai come, too." Squall said.

"Wouldn't have it another way." Seifer said.

"Heartless?" Fuu asked Leon. Leon nodded.

"Ass kicking time." Fuu said. Leon laughed as Sora and Riku went to get the gummi ship.

"So you're leaving." Hayner said to Seifer. Olette and Pence were talking to Leon and Cloud, who were in turn talking to Fuu and Rai. Hayner approached Seifer.

"It's for the best." Seifer sounded so grown-up, even though he was only a few years older.

"Are you sure?" Asked Hayner.

"Yes."

"Why?" Seifer sighed.

"I can't continue living here, I belong where I am needed. It's suffocating here." Seifer admitted.

"…Was I suffocating you?" Hayner asked, his voice was serious.

"Of course." Seifer smiled and Hayner laughed.

"Almasy." Leon called. Seifer nodded at Leon, then at Hayner. The Gummi ship was too small for this many people.

"Who is he?" Seifer asked Leon, gesturing towards Riku.

"My best friend!" Sora chirped in an optimistic voice. "I saved him from the darkness." Riku nodded.

"Better darkness than being trapped in a dream." Squall smirked. Seifer glared at Leon from across the ship. Fuu and Rai laughed. Cloud and Riku were confused.

"So who did you bring back?" Yuffie asked, as the ship full of people came into the house they shared.

"People from my planet." Leon answered. Seifer, Fuu, and Rai looked upwards. Leon nodded to them.

"I offered them the upstairs apartments. They said they would help us in exchange for rent." Leon told the rest of the committee.

"Oh cool! My name is Yuffie, and that's Aerith, Tifa, and Cid." Yuffie sang.

"I'm Rai, this is Fuu and this is Seifer, y'know?" Rai said.

"No, not really, but welcome!" Yuffie sang again. Cloud led Seifer, Fuu, and Rai upstairs. Riku could tell Sora had a question. He was anxious and jumpy, which were signs of Sora's question asking.

"Who's Zack" Sora asked. Aerith's eyes went wide.

"Cloud hasn't told us. He keeps it a secret and doesn't talk about him." Yuffie said solemnly as Cid nodded.

"He was really close t o cloud. That's basically all I know." Tifa said.

"He was in SOLDIER with Cloud. They were really close. Zack took care of Cloud during some point in Cloud's life. Zack died and Cloud couldn't prevent it." Aerith explained. She looked towards Tifa. "The memories Cloud had were Zack's memories." Riku, Leon, and Sora were kind of loss, but didn't ask for explanations. They waited for Cloud, Seifer, Fuu, and Rai to come back down. A fairly like creature came through the door.

"Sora." Paine stopped in front of Sora. She was alone, which was unusual.

"Paine?" Tifa questioned.

"Is it a bug?" Rai asked. Seifer and Fuu were really confused.

"I'm a person!" Paine shot at Rai. Rai just put his hands up in an apologenic manner.

"Anyways, Sora, I need your help." Paine looked serious. "Yuna and Rikku went to Destiny Islands. Take me there."

"Sure, we were going there anyways." Sora nodded, smiling. Seifer and Leon looked at each other.

"Squall and I are coming, too." Seifer stated. Sora smiled wider.

"The more the merrier!" Sora exclaimed.

"Who's Squall?" asked Yuffie. Leon raised his hand slightly. The room almost burst with laughter.

"I told you not to call me that." Leon said to Seifer. Seifer just shrugged. Leon, Paine, Seifer, Riku, and Sora went to the castle, the Gummi ship was parked at the top. Sora pointed to where the princesses were kept. Paine touched the middle of the room and she grew to the normal size of a human, minus the wings.

"Woah!" Sora was amazed with the power of the heart of the planet. Riku and Leon were indifferent as Seifer wondered if that was what it looked like when he touched the heart of the planet.

"Let's go!" Paine urged the group. The Gummi ship wasn't _as_ crowded, but it was still too close for comfort. As Sora did his third loop over heard, Paine finally had enough.

"Can someone _please_ take over." She snarled.

"I'm not doing that bad." Sora said.

"Are you serious?" Seifer asked incredulously.

"Of course!" answered Sora. Riku got up.

"Sora, let me drive." His low voice was soft as he put a hand on the wheel. He glared at Sora, who glared back, but soon lost focus.

"_Fine._" Sora gave up. Leon laughed.

"How did you do that?" Leon asked. "We can't change his mind, he's too stubborn." Riku laughed, then mumbled something about a 'Roxas' and 'his stupid personality'.

"Years of practice." Riku answered. At the islands, Kairi ran to greet them. Sora introduced Leon.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Kairi." Kairi was pleasant, but drooling.

"This is-"

"You're the jerk from Twilight Town." Kairi was not pleasant.

"Yeah,well, I'm Seifer, y'know." Seifer adopted Rai's speech. Kairi made a face and looked at Paine.

"Paine." Paine noticed Kairi still stareing at her. "What?"

"I don't like your style as much as Yuna's style." Kairi said, not really thinking. Sora jumped.

"So you've seen Yuna and Rikku?" asked Sora. Kairi nodded.

"Uh-huh. They went towards Tidus and Wakka." Paine ran forward with Sora close behind. It took Riku a second until he ran, nodding his head towards Kairi.

"Where's Selphie?" Leon asked. Kairi looked ath them curiously.

"How do you know Selphie? She asked. Leon shrugged. Kairi pointed tem towards a dock. Selphie sat on the end and Kairi went to talk to her.

"Hey Selph!" Kairi sat down next to the brown haired girl.

"Hey Kairi!" Selphie smiled.

"What are you doing?" Kairi asked.

"Thinking how romantic it would be if it was moonlight and there was a dock…" Selphie drifted off into her own little world. Kairi smiled as she looked at Leon and Seifer who were just staring at her. Seifer left after a minute towards the others, which Leon soon followed.

Paine saw Yuna and Rikku near Tidus and Wakka, hiding in the shadows. Sora and Riku came up after only a minute.

"Paine, sorry for leaving you. Our apologies." Yuna apologized, bowing a little bit.

"Is that him?" Paine asked, pointing to Tidus.

"Yeah it is!" Rikku was jumping off the walls with excitement.

"Why don't I lead them into the heart of the planet?" Kairi suggested. She had just arrived with Leon and Seifer. (They took a short cut). They all nodded.

"We'll come with." Sora said as Riku nodded.

"Hey Tidus, Wakka!" Kairi greeted with Riku and Sora.

"Sorer, Riku, Kairi! What's up?" Tidus asked, bouncing a bliztball on his head.

"Hey, we should go to the door!" Kairi urged them.

"You mean near the waterfall? I haven't been there in years." Wakka said. They all smiled as they went to the door. Kairi touched the door, Tidus and Wakka soon touched it, too. Tidus and Wakka grew in seconds. They rushed out of the cave with Kairi, Sora, and Riku soon after them.

"What the…" Tidus said.

"Wow! I feel like I have been in a dream, ya?" Wakka had a huge headache.

"Tidus…" Yuna said walking up to Tidus.

"Yuna?" Tidus was shocked to see Yuna. Actually, that was an understatement. He never expected to seen Yuna again, actually he never expected to see anyone ever again. He walked to her. He touched her shoulder, to make sure she was real. She was real, so he kissed her. He missed that feeling, especially with her. She smiled.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Rikku said. Tidus turned to look at her.

"Not forgetting you, Rikku." Tidus hugged her. Yuna hugged Wakka.

"You haven't grown." Yuna said.

"You haven't either." Wakka laughed.

"Who are you?" Tidus asked Paine.

"Paine, she helped us look for you!" Rikku said excitedly.

"You look like someone I kind of know." Wakka said as Yuna and Rikku laughed.

"So I guess that means we are staying on Destiny Islands?" Paine asked Yuna.

"I am." Yuna answered.

"I guess that means we all are!" Rikku said.

"Well that's settled." Sora said.

"So back to Radiant Gardens." Riku said.

"I don't really want to live here, so ya." Seifer said.

"Are you coming back soon Sora?" Kairi asked. She wished Sora would just stay where he is sometimes.

"I have one more thing to do!" Sora said.

"What?" Kairi asked.

"Defeat Sephiroth!" Sora exclaimed.

"He'll just come back in a different form or forms…" Leon said.

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_Thank you so much for reading._


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